


Eternal Bonds

by yellowjelo



Series: Kori Tian'otha [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Au Ra (Final Fantasy XIV), Lalafell (Final Fantasy XIV), Miqo'te (Final Fantasy XIV), Miqo'te Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-14 11:23:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16491644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowjelo/pseuds/yellowjelo
Summary: Kori discovers Eternal Bonding....---------------There was a bang, feet scuffling about, and the sound of a paper being tossed around as Kori ran into the free company house in a hurry. His braid was ruffled and he was wearing, well basically nothing but really that wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for Kori “likes to run around in a bunny suit” Tian’otha. The door he just threw open swung wildly on it’s hinges before finding its way back to being closed with another loud bang that echoed through the usually quiet household.





	1. And you wonder why you're still single...

There was a bang, feet scuffling about, and the sound of a paper being tossed around as Kori ran into the free company house in a hurry. His braid was ruffled and he was wearing, well basically nothing but really that wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for Kori “likes to run around in a bunny suit” Tian’otha. The door he just threw open swung wildly on it’s hinges before finding its way back to being closed with another loud bang that echoed through the usually quiet household.

“Guys! Guys come quick! Have you seen this?! This is important!” He hopped from one foot to the other eyes roaming from the shrine in front of him to the desk in the corner and finally catching sight of Rua’Len jolting upright from where they were lounging on the couch.

They frantically looked around for the cause of the commotion, pointing at themselves and then at the door and looking back to Kori, fear on their face wiping away signs of sleep that had still been clinging to their eyes as they tried to come back to reality.

Kori skidded over to them and plopped down on the floor at their feet, tail swishing back and forth with uncontained excitement, “Nothing’s wrong. In fact I just discovered the most amazing thing!”

He held up the piece of paper had been brandishing earlier, nearly giving Rua a papercut by how quickly he had shoved it into their face. The paper in question seemed to be a pamphlet of some kind. Two people dressed in their Sunday best, gazing into each other’s eyes while standing inside and ornate church donned the front of the pamphlet. Rua took the whole thing in slowly as if deciphering a code and Kori watched several emotions flit across their face, ranging from confusion to concern to outright alarm as they started to recognize what it was Kori had discovered. They pointed to the pamphlet and then at Kori and methodically drew a question mark in the air. Kori was still trying to learn how to decipher Qestir's gestures but he was certain this one was asking where he found the pamphlet.

“Some guy in a suit was handing them out in Gridania. He saw me and when our eyes met we both just knew that it was destiny. So I took the pamphlet, gave him one of my winning smiles. Told him I’d be back to find him and went on my way. Little did I know that he was handing me a treasure chest. I mean just look at this it’s amazing. Just do a few simple tasks and bam-” Kori whipped open to the first page of the pamphlet, “-hoards of free shit is just rained down upon you like you’re some kind of god. How could I say no to this?”

At that point, Talrael stepped into the room ducking under the doorway leading to the stairs. He had been downstairs working on some crafts when the commotion had started. Tal looked over the room taking in the scene before him, Kori practically bouncing where he was on his knees leaning very far into Rua’s personal space and Rua looking like they were going to either be cross or throw up from whatever it was Kori was showing them. .

“Do I even want to know what’s going on?” Tal leaned against the door frame looking pointedly at his sibling, the only one on the room who would give him a straight answer.

Rua gestured to Kori and then to the pamphlet and then made a circle around their finger signifying a ring. Gods it would seem Kori wanted to get married, it was always had to be something with Kori in the house.  

“Oh by the twelve, Kori you don’t…”

Kori jumped up and step towards Tal, beaming from ear to ear, nothing was going to ruin his discovery,

“Listen it doesn’t have to be a real wedding. Just good enough to trick the church into thinking you’re getting married. And look at all the free shit that you get just for completing the ceremony. You don’t even have to do anything, just stand there and exchange rings and bam the church gives you a chocobo for crying out loud. Who doesn’t want a free chocobo?”

He waved the pamphlet around so much Tal wasn’t even able to focus on it as he recited items that you get from an Eternal Bonding ceremony.

Tal looked over to Rua who rolled their eyes and shrugged. There was no point fighting it now. When Kori got like this there was no stopping the boy until he got what he was after or got thoroughly discouraged discovery what he wanted took too much effort to obtain. Either way they might as well play along. Besides it could be good entertainment on an otherwise boring day.  

“...and all guest get a free gift box too! Come on guys. I’m a genius! Who wants to marry me!”

“Boss might be interested, why don’t you go ask him?” Tal humored him.

Kori’s eyes lit up and his tail lifted, “Where is he?”

“Out on the roof I think?” Tal looked over at Rua who nodded to confirm, “Yeah he should be out there. Why don’t you go ask him to marry you.”

Kori was already out the door before Tal had even finished his sentence.

Outside in the yard of their free company house, Kori took a few steps towards the road and then stopped and turned. He leaned backwards and craned his neck upwards so he could see the roof. Like usual, Boss was standing guard at the very top of the house in his full paladin armor staring off into the nothingness. Kori would never understand that. He would only lay on the roof for sunbathing but Boss just kind of seemed to zone out up there. Kori had tried asking Boss what he did up there all day but the only reply he got was “waiting” and Kori never had the nerve to ask what he was waiting for.  

“Yo Boss!!” Kori yelled, voice carrying through the empty streets on Shirogane, “Marry me!”  

There was a moment of brief silence as the wind blew through the bamboo of the neighboring house and all Kori could hear was the gurgling of water from the sauna in the corner. Kori had a thought that Boss hadn’t heard him and was about to call out again when,

“If I’m going to be Eternal Bonding, I’m going all out,” Boss replied without moving in any way, “It would be the most extravagant, most expensive, wedding Eorzea has ever seen because that is what I deserve.”

Kori groaned and his shoulders slumped, “But that ruins the entire point of getting free stuff if you’re just going to pay for it anyways. The church just wants to give you stuff for being there. Why you gotta add to it?”

“Do you not care about the principal of the thing? If you’re going to get married you need to be able to choose the designs, the colors, the music, have some input into it. Not just let the church decide for you. It’s a big commitment and if I’m going to go through it with someone I want it done right.”

“But the whole point isn’t the wedding, it’s the gifts. Like who cares who you’re marrying. I just want free stuff,” Kori’s lower lip jutted out into a pout as Boss finally turned to stare down at him.

“And you wonder why you’re still single.”

You could almost see the dagger that shot through Kori with that one sentence. He staggered a bit and then pulled his composure back together.

“Hey now...that was uncalled for….Thancred will reciprocate my feelings any day now...and we all know Aymeric...Aymeric can’t get enough of me….and G’raha...oh man….” A sharp look from Boss made Kori shut up instantly.

Kori was a massive flirt. All of Eorzea knew that and Doma was learning very quickly. He would flirt with anything that moved and honestly was completely open to having multiple partners at a time but it was a very rare day when the object of his affections succumbed to his attempts. For as much as Kori loved flirting, he was absolutely terrible at it and couldn’t even count on one hand the number of times he’d been on the receiving end of a bitch slap that he thoroughly deserved.

“As I said, if you wanna marry me you gotta be ready to pay the price,” with that Boss turned back to his staring ending the conversation and leaving Kori feeling a little chagrined about the entire thing.  

Kori let out a loud long sigh, kicking a rogue rock in their yard, he looked down at the pamphlet in his hand. The couple on the front looked so happy and in love. Maybe this was a bad idea. Who gets married for the benefits anyways? Everyone he knew who had been through the Enternal Bonding ceremony, which was one person, had done it because they actually wanted to spend eternity with one person and one person only. (Which sounded quite lame to Kori.) Besides, reading through the papers further, it looked like there was a whole procedure the church makes the “happy couple” go through to prove your bond to your partner and wouldn’t the church just see right through him in that case cause he wouldn’t have a romantic bond with the other person.

He took a step towards their chocobo stabled, starting to feel detected and planning to dump the pamphlet in with the mess there that needed to be taking to the dump, when a small little lalafell waddled her way through the front gates.

Her name was H’Lomeh Tirris and they had been friends since...well since Kori first found out he was the Warrior of Light. She had found him in the Ul’dah markets and they squabbled over an item before discovering they both had a passion for adventuring. Tirris had only recently joined their free company, at Kori’s insistence, and was a very welcome companion for dungeon runs with her knack for the healing arts, and just hanging out in general. But what came to Kori’s mind as he watched her make her way through their garden was that she basically worshipped Kori, for some reason he will never understand, and looked up to him almost more than Shima did. Maybe he didn’t have to give up on his hope of free items after all. Perhaps she was the one who would help him fulfill his chocobo dreams. Kori slid over to her, stopping her in her tracks as he got down on one knee.

“Tirris, marry me,” he whispered to the wind and watched with delight as her eyes widened and then fell into a look of confusion.

“Wait what? Why? What’s going on?” she crossed her arms looking around them for some sign of a prank.

“Because we can get free stuff,” the pamphlet once again got shoved into someone’s face and this time the person on the person on the receiving end actually took it from him and looked it over with curiosity.

“Hmm...okay, this looked interesting. What do I get out of it?”

“Well you get the stuff too and uh….the privilege of marrying me?”

A laugh like sylph’s playing in the forest and Tirris looked at Kori with a twinkle in her eyes, “I want the stuff for the house and dinner once a month so I can pick your brain for training.”

“It’s a deal,” Kori held out his hand and they shook on it, his body buzzing with adrenaline. He couldn’t believe it. His plan was actually going to work. He was going to enjoy drowning in the party favors later. Fury bless him, this was going to be amazing. Maybe he could convince Tirris to let him wear his bunny suit for the ceremony.

“Oh, also I’m proposing to you. So I’m going to get the wristbands,” she chimed in cutting through his thoughts.

“I am totally okay with that.”

“Let’s get married.”

“For the free shit!”

 


	2. This is a whole new level of moronic, even for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kori is a dumbass  
> \---  
> “We’ve got a problem,” Kori stated as he plopped down onto the sand, wearing nothing but his smallclothes.   
> “If you lost your clothes again, the weaver’s guild is in Ul’Dah,” Tirris turned from where she was sunbathing to give him a flat look.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took way too long to write and now my wrists hurt but it was worth it

“We’ve got a problem,” Kori stated as he plopped down onto the sand, wearing nothing but his smallclothes. 

“If you lost your clothes again, the weaver’s guild is in Ul’Dah,” Tirris turned from where she was sunbathing to give him a flat look. 

“Oh, no, no. That’s not it. I was trying on clothes so I could look nice for our prayer journey later today,” Kori waved her off and leaned back on his hands, “No we have a bigger problem than that.”

“And you didn’t think to at least put pants on before you came rushing out here to declare your problem?” Tirris sighed and onto her stomach, smothering her face in her towel. 

“I lost the ceremony wristband,” Kori’s ears flattened and he preemptively winced, waiting for Tirris to snap at him. 

She was silent far too long for Kori’s liking, perhaps she had fallen asleep? Maybe he had gotten lucky? Slowly turning his head to face her, Kori discovered neither of those was the case. Tirris was still lying on his stomach, chin resting on enclosed hands, feet wiggling in the air, clearly deep in thought about something. 

“Tirris? I-”

“I heard you,” she dropped her hands and sat up, “When was the last time you saw it?” 

Kori was clearly not expecting her to be so civil about the whole thing, it took him a moment to comprehend that she wasn’t mad at him for ruining this wedding….fake wedding. 

“Probably when you gave it to me,” he replied slowly, hand on his chin as he tried to recall, “I put it in my dresser for safekeeping and then today when I was trying on clothes I decided to look for it cause I’ll need it tonight and it wasn’t there.” 

“Did you misplace it when you were dressing?” She tilted her head to side waiting for him to figure out his blunder.

“I thought about that. I checked everywhere, under my bed, on my desk, I took everything out of my dresser. Couldn’t find it anywhere,” Kori flopped backwards, tip of his tail flicking sand everywhere, “I don’t know Tirris. I’m so sorry. Do you think the church will give me a new one?”

Tirris hopped up and offered him a tiny hand with a smile, “Well before we go to drastic measures let’s trying searching your room again. It didn’t just disappear into thin air.”  

Kori took her offered hand and stood, “Tirris you are way too patient for your own good sometimes.”

“With our free company? I have to be,” She shook her head. 

Kori brushed the sand off himself as Tirris bundled up her towel and then led the two of them in the walk back up to the house from the beach. 

-

Tirris stood in shock in the doorway to Kori’s room, “You weren’t kidding when you said you emptied your dresser.”

The room was a hot mess. There was clothing draped over walls, shoes stuck on paintings, and just stuff everywhere.

“I might have panicked a little bit before I came to find you,” Kori rubbed the back of his head as he looked at the state of his room. He definitely did not remember it being this bad when he left. 

Tirris mimed rolling up her sleeves, despite only wearing her bikini, “Well first things first. We’ll never find anything in this mess. Let’s start by putting everything back together. Maybe the wristband will show up while we clean?” 

“Tirris I am very glad you agreed to marry me. You’re a genius,” Kori beamed at her.

“I know, I know. Now come on kitten we got a lot of work to do.” 

It took a lot longer to clean up the mess than it did to make it, which is exactly how messes worked. Kori was splayed out on the floor scowling up at the ceiling while Tirris closed the finally drawer of his dresser. She wiped her hands together and turned to him.

“Oh get up,” she kicked at his shins.

“We didn’t find it,” he groaned and rolled away from her.

“Which only means it’s not in your room. It’s around somewhere. Come on time to think. Where else did you go that day when I gave you the wristband?” 

“Uh...I think I went to Gridania.”

“What were you doing there?” she settled herself down onto his bed.

“Uh…..” Kori curled into himself as he tried to remember what had happened that day. 

He had been so very excited about the possibilities of the eternal bonding ceremony. 

That when Tirris said she was going to get the wristbands for them he hadn’t really been paying much attention. He remembered her handing it to him. Remembered going to his room. Could have sworn he put it in his dresser. And then he teleported to Gridania to uh…

“Oh!” He sat up and slapped his hands against the floor making Tirris yelp, “I went to visit the botanist guild!” 

She raised a brow at him, “Alright then that’s our next stop. Perhaps you left it at the guild.” 

“Think they have a lost and found?” Kori asked, his tail lifting as hope rose within him once again. 

“I’m certain they do, it’s a large guild,” Tirris hopped down off his bed and started for the door, “Kugane is the closest aetheryte correct?”

“That’s going to cost so much gil….”

“Good thing you’re paying for us.” 

-

Kori will never understand why the aether for the botanist Guild was so far away from the actual guild itself. He was almost tempted to summon General, so he could ride the chocobo across the distance. Not to mention he had to keep pace with Tirris’ short strides, which made him even more impatient as they walked through the stunning garden. 

“Do you remember who you talked to or why you were here?” Tirris asked as she strode confidently next to him.

“I definitely remember entering the guild house and talking to someone there about flowers for the ceremony,” Kori tugged at one of his sleeves.

“Look at you planning ahead, that’s a rarity,” she patted as far up his thigh as she could reach and Kori looked down to see her smiling fondly up at him, “I’m certain they’ll remember whether or not you left something behind then.” 

They finally made it to the building proper and Kori looked around at all the plants and people gathered inside. This was a lot more people than normally visited the botanist guild. Were they having a sale on herbs? Maybe he should pick some up for Rua for their cooking. Especially if he wanted Rua to cook that amazing stew again.

“I’ll ask the guy at the counter,” Kori offered and immediately got into line.

“Alright, guess I’ll start asking around here,” Tirris eyed him funny at his promptness but ignored it to start her own questioning. 

Eventually getting to the front of the line, Kori leaned over the counter very eagerly looking for the goods.

“Ah mister Tian’otha, welcome back. Were you interested in joining the competition?” the man behind the counter grinned at him. 

“Competition?” Kori leaned back on his heels, “What competition?”

“We’re having a popoto growing competition. Over the next few months the best botanists in Eorzea are going to be growing the largest popoto they can and then bring them all back here for the grand finale and possible 100,000 gil prize,” the speech seemed practiced but none-the-less enthused.

Kori rubbed his chin thoughtfully, tail curling around his leg, “I am very intrigued….” 

“Kori did you find anything?” Tirris was at his shoulder in an instant, immediately breaking his train of thought. 

“Oh shit right,” Kori jumped and looked from Tirris to the man, “Sorry dude, next time. I’m here on a mission. Did anyone leave an eternal bonding ceremony wristband here? I might have lost mine and we gotta do our prayers tonight.” 

The man shook his head with a frown, “I am sorry. No such thing has been turned in.”

“Right...sorry,” Kori’s ears drooped forward as he was ready to turn away in defeat.

“But I do recall you speaking with a miqo’te woman the last time you were here. She was inquiring as to the reasoning why you purchased do many flowers I believe,” the man’s eyes were glazed over and he looked pensive as he tried to remember that particular moment in time. 

Kori nearly jumped onto the counter with excitement from that new revelation, instead he just ended up lifting himself up half over the counter, “What did she look like?!” 

Tirris reached up and grabbed his tail yanging him back down to reality, “My apologies, sir, he can be a bit uncivilized sometimes.” 

The man took a step back and a moment to compose himself from Kori’s outburst, “I do not recall but she did have a lance strapped to her, perhaps someone at the lancer’s guild will know her?” 

“Tirris! We gotta go to the lancer’s guild!” Kori turned and started for the door without a second glance back. 

“Thank you, sir. Good luck with the competition,” Tirris made up for Kori’s rudeness before following him past the line of people and out the door back into the garden. 

-

Unlike the botanist guild, the aether for the lancer’s guild brought them straight to it’s door and Kori bolted for it as soon as his feet hit the grass. 

“Wait up!” Tirris yelled at him, panting as she tried to keep up with his speed. 

“Oh sorry,” Kori stopped mid step and turned to wait for her.

“What’s got you all excited all of a sudden?”

“We’re so close to finding it. Can’t you feel it? It’s like right with in our grasps.”

“That’s cute but there’s no reason to run,” Tirris clasped her hands behind her back and smiled up at him as she caught her breath. 

“Well, I, I just want to find it already. I feel really guilty for having lost it and now I’m dragging you all around Eorzea and it’s so close. It has to be here,” Kori kicked at the grass and rubbed his ear looking away from Tirris.

“Alright then, kitten, lead the way,” Tirris gestured to the guild, “Go redeem yourself.” 

Kori perked up at her words and turned to start running for the guild again when he ran smack into someone walking in the opposite direction and ended up on the floor in a tangle of limbs with the stranger. 

The person in question was a small miqo’te woman dressed in light leather armor. Kori had ended up on top and was staring down at her deciding to take full advantage of the sudden awkward situation.

“Well I didn’t think you’d fall for me that hard,” he grinned at her.

The miqo’te rolled her eyes and him and pushed him away so she could scramble to her feet, “Are you injured? I was not looking where I was going. I am sorry.” 

Kori pulled himself up and dusted off his bare legs, “No biggie. I should have been paying attention also but I was in a hurry to find a lancer miqo’te. Have you seen her?”

“Lancer miqo’te is not much of a description,” the woman subtly reached behind her and pulled a lance around in front pretending to think long and hard, “Granted there aren’t too many miqo’te’s around these parts.” 

Tirris was patting Kori’s thigh impatiently but he ignored it, “Exactly, that’s why I was hoping she would be easy to find. She should have been at the botanist guild last week talking with me about flowers. I lost an important wristband and was hoping she knew where it was.”

The woman shifted her weight, grinning devilishly as she looked Kori up and down and then reached into her pocket, “A wristband you say? Perhaps one for eternal bonding?”   

Tirris’ patting became very persistent and Kori moved his hand to shoo her away, “Yes, exactly that! Do you know her? Does she have it? I really need it back. We’re supposed to start our prayers tonight but I kinda fucked up and it’s been delaying us.” 

“I might have come across her at some point,” she was clearly getting too much enjoyment out of how oblivious Kori was being and Tirris was tired of it. 

“Oh my gods, Kori, this is a whole new level of moronic, even for you,” she rubbed her temple and then put a hand out to the maiden, “Thank you for finding out wristband, ma’am. We do very much appreciate you keeping it safe for us.” 

“It was my pleasure. I was hoping I would run into him again after I found it. Been keeping it on my person ever since,” the miqo’te handed the wristband over to Tirris as Kori looked on in bewilderment.

“Wait...what...how...hang on I’m missing something here,” he spluttered.

“It’s probably your pants,” the miqo’te chuckled and then waved to the two of them, “May the twelve bless your union.”

And with that she was on her way to wherever she had been in a hurry to get to earlier. 

“What just happened?” Kori turned to Tirris, utter confusion written across his face.

Tirris just reached as high as she could on Kori and patted him gently with a smile you give someone on their deathbed, “Don’t worry about it, dear. We got the wristband back and that’s all that matters.” 

Tirris turned and led the way back to the aetheryte plaza. It was getting late and they should have been at the church an hour ago but at the very least they found the wristband. Tirris swore she would not let Kori take control of anything for this wedding. Even if it was just a rouse for free stuff, she did not trust him to not fuck it up entirely. Kori, on the other hand, followed her blindly still trying to figure out what had happened since he had picked himself up off the ground. Well at least Tirris was there with him, one of them had to be sane during this entire process and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Here's hoping I get one ficlet a day done for nanowrimo this year....


End file.
